The Skyhawk (1974)

[kungfusamurai]

I finally sat down and watched this film last night. I thought it was already. It was rather bleak in the way so many people died. There were moments when I thought there would be an appearance of Wong Fei Hung to save the day, but instead the 'good' people ended up dying painfully.

The fight scenes throughout the movie were okay, but not great, even after films like Hapkido, released before this one, had featured great choreography. It was basically the flailing arm type of fighting typical of the basher genre of the early 70s. I even found Whang Ing Sik's punches and kicks unsatisfying, even though he probably fought with the same intensity as he did in Hapkido. The one guy who steals the movie in terms of fighting is Carter Wong. I normally dislike his fighting style, but in the final fight scene up to the point where he gives that last guy the boston crab, he pulled off some great combinations! Some of the moves he did, like the leg take down and the joint locking of a guys arm, were more like hapkido than basher style of fighting. I wonder if Sammo consulted Whang Ing Sik on those moves. The switching back and forth between the on location filming and an obvious sound stage mock-up was a little distracting in that finale, making it seem like Carter Wong was left in Thailand while Kwan Tak Hing was magically transported to an indoor location.

I'm not familiar with the Wong Fei Hung history before this movie. They call this movie 'The Skyhawk', and it seems like they call Wong Fei Hung 'Skyhawk' throughout the movie. I'm guessing that 'Fei Hung' is literally translated to 'Skyhawk', but why was it translated as such for the film? In films after this one, I don't recall any instance when Master Wong's first name is literally translated, at least not any time after this film. Was this an isolated case for the translation of this film? Is it because they named it 'Fei Hung' in Cantonese, and then for international release they literally translated the title and the name throughout the film so you'd know it was the same person? Or did they call Kwan Tak Hing's Wong Fei Hung 'skyhawk' throughout the older movies he did before this one?

The Thailand location was also a little strange. I know in the film they explain the travel to there as being a bit of a vacation and Master Wong is visiting relatives, but why did they choose to film the movie there? Was it to recapture the magic that made Bruce Lee a star when he filmed Big Boss in Thailand a few years earlier?

KFS

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

just wrote a review for this on HKflix, and made many of the same points you make!

It's not that great of a movie!

[KUNG FU BOB]

I agree with both of you. I was so determined to find this movie back in the day. But once I found it, I was like "Oh... um, that's it?" I found the whole thing pretty underwhelming. And it left me wondering the same things that you mentioned. Skyhawk? Huh?

[Guest Markgway]

Easily the weak link in the latter-day Kwan Tak-Hing as WFH trilogy.

[FrankBolte]

Easily the weak link in the latter-day Kwan Tak-Hing as WFH trilogy.

that if you dont count the about 100 other wfh films he made before

[KUNG FU BOB]

Franky, have you been lucky enough to see any of the old, black and white Wong Fei-hung films? I've only ever seen clips.

[Guest Markgway]

that if you dont count the about 100 other wfh films he made before

I wasn't... hence "latter-day" and "trilogy".

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Hmmm, this became somewhat bigger than a capsule review that I originally intended. I have not done enough research to do a full length review (I also like to do a rewatch as well), but it is getting close. I will avoid plot recap until then. Spoilers alert.

The Skyhawk (1974: Jeng Cheong-who: Hong Kong)

The venerable Kwan Tak-hing had played the famous Wong Fei-hung in around 80 movies. His previous one before this film was in 1970, but he was still synonymous with the role equivalent to the Tramp with Charlie Chaplin. He is probably not as known with that character now as either Jackie Chan or Jet Li (partially this has to do with the fact that many of his films need to be released; of course many now might even not know who this character even is)* not counting Hong Kong fans from the 1950’s through the 1970s.

One may wonder why Wong Fei-hung takes so long to get involved. While it works quite well early in the film and the scene with the scalding hot water is quite memorable, it becomes more than a little aggravating when his reticence goes from self-imposed Confucian restraint to waiting around for more and more evidence when you already have enough. In fact several die needlessly because of this. There are plenty of mistakes like this throughout. Later on several of the main characters perish because for some reason they think that walking alone in alley ways after they threaten to kill a relative of Ku is a good idea. It is also hilarious when Wong makes a small complaint about not killing and Leo does it anyways with no retributions from his sifu.

Most of the film is on location and looks quite good because of it. The very end fight scene is a mixture of on location, but mostly studio shoot which is jarring and quite noticeable because of the juxtaposition. It is easy to notice a few continuity mistakes, like Carter Wong’s massive amount of sweat-stained clothes to dry and clean within the same scene (of course the background gives it away quite easily.) This was probably done (as Cal states in his review in the link below) because of Kwan’s aversion to the heat there given he was around 68 at the time of filming. It is also hard not to notice The Big Boss vibes, or influence, well let’s call it a homage. You have the drug front in Thailand, an out-of-towner character who refuses to fight (for a bit), Nora Miao and some working-class themes that get ignored rather quickly.

The fighting is quite good though. Sammo does well with the choreography and in working the strengths and hiding the weaknesses of the combatants. There are the powerful kicks from Whang In-shik, the poetic style of Kwan Tak-hing (doubled in acrobatic scenes, but he still can move), the presence of Carter Wong (I always get the feeling that while his kicks are not always fluid he could probably hurt anyone he fought against.) You get leg traps, throws and even get a Boston crab. It is all quite impressive for the time. Sammo would continue to improve his choreography and eventually become a star in Hong Kong. It is fun to see his work.

Overall a fun film with nice location shots and good fighting. I got this in the Marital Arts Movie Marathon collection which has a Mandarin and English dub. There is a little bit of blur with motion so I am wondering if this suffers from PAL-to-NTSC improper conversion issues. It comes with the trailer.

* An anecdotal experiment: I have asked several of Chinese descent (born from Taiwan, Mainland, Vietnam and Hong Kong) if they knew who Wong Fei-hung was and generally everyone who was over 30 knew.

Sources:

Cal’s Review at HKMDB: I miss him writing about HK cinema. But he is busy trying to make people laugh somewhere in various English pubs.

Mark Pollard’s Review: More plot issues are mentioned here though for the reasons I mentioned above I do not quite agree with “Tak-hing still comes out looking all the wiser.” I do agree that Sammo’s character is rather bland compared to later films.

There is no capsule review in Dr. Reid’s book The Ultimate Guide to Martial Arts Movies of the 1970s. I have not read much discussion of this in books. I will keep looking. If anyone has any decent references to this film in print please write me.

[ShawAngela]

I rewatched The skyhawk this evening.

I had forgotten how good it was, and also Sammo's sad fate in the movie...

[Rodolphe Dux]

"The Skyhawk" with Kwan Tak-Hing and Sammo Hung. I liked it very much, the script is interesting and the choregraphy is great in a 70s fashion. Good early GH stuff.

[saltysam]

An ageing Wong Fei Hung ,along with his student Sammo Hung visits family in Thailand. On the way they help Carter Wong,who's been soundly beaten up by Whang-In-Sik and his men. Fei Hungs relative is an honourable man running a factory, the local crime boss muscles in. They also run a gambling den where addict Li Kun loses everything. I like this one but it's frustrating, Fei Hung is a pacificist and he allows far too much to happen before intervening. Nora Miao is completely wasted here, just there to look pretty,a nothing role. The HK blu ray looks really great, it's Region A locked though, Irongod has hinted elsewhere it may be an eventual uk release, i imagine it would possibly be in a box set, not sure if it's a title strong enough for a solo release.

[One Armed Boxer]

I got through watching this one recently, and overall found it to be a rather middling affair. I gave it the full review treatment over at COF which you can check out via the link - 

https://cityonfire.com/the-skyhawk-1974-review/

[Colonel Mortimer]

I watched The Skyhawk on the Hi-Yah App.

My Thoughts:

• First of all the movie looks fantastic, the locations are stunning where they filmed this, and they really take advantage of it.  This will look even better on the Eureka blu-ray I'm sure.
• The set-up of this movie is basically The Big Boss, but while The Big Boss is such a simple film, there's a little too much going on here.  There's the workers against corrupt Boss storyline, but then there's a gambling subplot, the family's restaurant's going to get taken away, there's an evil school, and our heroes are just in this town for a nice vacation it seems.
• Seeing Tak-Hing Kwan in the role of Wong-Fei Hung as an old man doesn't really hold any novelty to me, since I haven't watched the 200 previous films he played that role.  I thought he was fine, he held his own when he was in fights.  When he was being doubled though, it was extremely obvious and distracting.  I'm sure watching in HD doesn't help with that.
• Very cool seeing a young Sammo Hung in this, and he has a lot to do.  He's clearly not the Sammo we know and love yet, but he's getting there.
• Carter Wong has never done much for me, I've seen him in quite a few movies, and I don't know, I just feel like there's not a lot of charisma there, and his fighting is just serviceable. He does 
  Spoiler

  Kill a guy by putting them in a Boston Crab,

    so that's fun. He's also sidelined for most of the movie until the end.  Is he supposed to be the protagonist?  Who is the protagonist in this film?
• Nora Miao is always a delight, but she doesn't have a lot to do here.
• The Gray-haired bad guy played by In-shik Hwang was the highlight of the film, any fight with him popped with energy that the other fights didn't have.

Overall it was fine, again the film looks stunning, some fun bad guys.  Some solid fights, but the plot is just a little muddled, and our heroes are seemingly sidelined for most of the movie, so there's not a lot of impact I felt when it got down to the end of the movie and it was time for them to save the day.  The Eureka blu ray will probably look stunning, but as of right now I think I'll hold off on picking it up.

6/10

Edited June 13, 2023 by Colonel Mortimer